Hope for seabirds, but Nightjars need your help

Nightjar (Jonathan Bull)

After the ravages of bird flu, positive news from some of our seabird colonies. North Wales Wildlife Trust’s count at Cemlyn showed encouraging results: 2167 pairs of Sandwich Tern, 170 of Arctic Tern, 120 of Common Tern and a pair of Roseates, Wales’ rarest breeding seabird. The site also hosts 200 pairs of Black-headed Gull and two pairs of Mediterranean Gull. A couple of extra Roseate Terns appeared at the weekend, when Sandwich Tern and gull chicks explored the islands between the rain showers. Last week’s wind brought two Pomarine Skuas to Fedw Fawr near Llanddona and a couple of Storm Petrels past Porth Ysgaden.

A colony in Conwy Bay holds the highest number of red-listed Herring Gull nests since I began watching it as part of the UK Seabird Monitoring Programme in 2019. Fulmar nests were similar to last year albeit half the total of six years ago. Unexpected was a Black Guillemot, Wales’ second rarest breeding seabird, delivering a fish to a nest hole high above the beach. Black Guillemots nest at a handful of sites on Anglesey and on the Great Orme, but this is the first modern nest record in Caernarfonshire west of the Conwy estuary.

A White Stork was reported in fields north of the Dee, near Sealand, on Monday. A Quail was ringed on Pen Llŷn, another sang on Bardsey last week, and one was in Berwyn on Monday, just outside the Eryri National Park between Llanuwchllyn and Llyn Efyrnwy.

A sleepy Nightjar on a garden bench in Barmouth was not typical habitat, perhaps a late arriving migrant. The British Trust for Ornithology is calling for help with the UK Nightjar survey, with many sites in North Wales requiring two visits before 15 July, in the two hours after sunset or before sunrise. Sites around Coed y Brenin, Llandegla, Clocaenog, Gwydyr and the Mawddach estuary are hotspots that need volunteers. Details and registration at bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/heathland-birds-survey. 

Map showing sites in North Wales where volunteers are needed to check for Nightjars before mid-July (correct as of 2 June 2025). Visit the BTO website for more details.